Thread: Lions/Cheetahs/Leopards

I have been addicted to watching the "Big Cat Diary" lately in which Jonathan Scott and Simon King follow these 3 big cats in Kenya to study and film them and it's just fascinating. While watching the series, i have some intriguing questions that may never be understood why it happens.

1) Lions are usually a pride, hyenas hunt as a clan, but why do cheetahs and leopards normally hunt on their own? Cheetah cubs usually have a 10% survival rate so it never made sense to me why other cheetahs don't gather and hunt together.

2) Why are some lionesses forced out of a pride? I never understand this. I know that usually one male, the most dominant one, will be the king of the pride with several lionesses but often at times they'll kick out a lioness, even if it comes from the same family and especially if she has cubs.

3) Leopards, lions and cheetahs are all so similar in build yet only the leopards can climb trees. Interesting.

4) Hyenas are some of the smartest animals ever. People get the wrong impression that they are evil but they're not. One video i saw a clan of hyenas taking turns eating a zebra carcass and watching out for other predators. It was almost like it was scripted, done on a timely basis. Another video i saw was when vultures were surrounding them to take their food. A few hyenas ripped out a lung or a leg from the carcass, ran 50-100 away from it and dropped it there so all the vultures would fly over there and eat it. Amazing.

5) How do lions, leopards and cheetahs decide which cub to take when they are faced with a dangerous situation? One leopard had 3 cubs hidden near a hyena den and when confronted by them, took one cub to flee leaving the other two behind to be killed and eaten.

6) Why do buffaloes run away when the lions catch the calf? There are like 50 buffaloes to 5 lions. Lions almost always run away when the bigger and much stronger buffaloes threaten them. Instead they look at them for a second eating their baby calf and simply walk away.

I've only seen this happen once, and for those who haven't seen it ... definitely worth watching.

I was a Barbary Lion in a past life, I dream about it all the time...one time I was the lion hugging a mountain and eating clouds as they passed by, they tasted like a mix of very tender, juicy pieces of chicken and fresh pork rinds.....

As far as choosing which cub to take in a rush they probably take the strongest, alpha cub, definitely not the runt unless they just have to grab and dash then it's probably the closest one......

Cheetahs have adapted to being able to run so fast they don't need the ambush strategies pack animals use to flush prey towards others lying in wait....